Even some of the best sitcoms took years to properly gel. Modern ones aren't given the chance.

Modern sitcoms (especially those on streaming platforms) seem to lack filler episodes. Seasons are shorter, so every episode exists to move the plot forward. We don’t actually see the cast acting like a group of friends or family. I think it really hurts the dynamic of the cast. I watched season 1 of How I Met Your Father and it seemed like the big plot events and twists were too close together. Why do I care about a relationship between 2 characters if I only saw it developing for 2 episodes?

It’s a different time thanks to Streaming and the ability to watch tv at any time from anywhere. People are consuming media at alarming rates while demanding more. Networks are furiously trying to churn out whatever they can in an effort to draw more eyes to their platform and hope each show finds an audience. If it doesn’t find one quickly, they cut it and move on. Slow growing shows like Seinfeld and The Office would never have a chance to mature and find an audience in todays market.

In the age of streaming the sitcoms that appear via streaming are not given the same length and room to stretch its legs that the sitcoms of even the just pre streaming days were given. Using That 90's Show and That 70's Show as examples One of the big issues I had with 90's was that we didn't really get a chance to "meet" the characters. We know their names and faces but there was no time to explore the relationships between the characters ad it felt rushed to get to the ending. While 70's gave their characters room to grow and to get to know each member of the gang before tossing a sudden love triangle plot in when the characters barely had a chance to interact. The same was the issue with HIMYF compared to HIMYM. I think it has managed to play with the characters and dynamics a bit in season 2 but if you had asked me with season 1 what I thought I would not have been as comfortable with Sophie Jesse and the other characters as I feel now with season 2. Comedy series need room to grow compared to a drama or procedural this era isn't giving a chance for them to grow.

What is happening is that you are cherry picking the best 5 sitcoms out of 5 decades of sitcoms. You have hundreds of sitcoms to choose from, most of which failed to last a single season.

And you are comparing the top 1% of all sitcoms in the past with the few current sitcoms. And of course the current sitcoms look bad in comparison.

The genre really can lose its sense of humor. if you look at the late 60s, the funny sitcom almost died out, to be replaced by pleasant, unoffensive, but dull family fare. Even existing shows that had been funny early on, like My Three Sons and the Andy Griffith Show, just stopped trying to go for funniest. Then like a bolt from the blue, shows emerged again with broad characters who went for it - Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, The Odd Couple, Sanford and Son, MASH - it was an avalanche.

if you go into a sub for many shows, even older ones, it seems like at least the Reddit portion of the audience is quite humor impaired. Many posts express disapproval of acts, and even characters, as if the shows were somehow presented as exemplars of proper conduct. Comedy can't just run free if the writer has to keep that sort of audience in mind.

You think Barney Stinson feels like a real person and not a joke vehicle?

they try to be super progressive, culturally respectful and funny at the same time. It's incredibly hard to pull off. These things will only gel together in the hands of master writers and the people doing sitcoms today are far, far, FAR from being ones

Everything feels forced and the writing is generally bad. Not to mention, I find the acting nowhere near as good. I don't love HIMYF or 90's show, but for whatever reason I throw them on when a new episode is out. But everything just feels watered down compared to older sitcoms.

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I don’t know. I wonder if with there being so many competing networks and steaming services there just isn’t the concentration of talent that there used to be when all the sitcoms where concentrated within a few network television companies.

I also think a really good show is like catching lightening in a bottle. It’s hard for everything to come together. The success rate for shows was never high and I wonder when it does work how many of those shows now just never get a chance to find an audience before it ends up on the scrap heap because audiences are also very spread out now.

I think maybe audiences in general are drifting away a little bit from the "joke-a-minute" style of sitcom writing. Maybe the current onslaught of prestige, character-driven dramas have whet our appetite for slower paced character-driven humor.

For example, one of my favorite comedies in recent years is Search Party, and even though the writing is still pretty damn solid, it's a series mostly carried by acting and characters as opposed to funny one-liners. Meredith Hagner and John Early in particular are AMAZING, and their performance and delivery is what makes the humor work, oftentimes more than the lines themselves. In the hands of lesser actors, it wouldn't have been as effective.

This video put into words how I feel about modern sitcoms, they try too hard and depend on formulas without letting things develop naturally.

I like shows like Frazier. I think the writing these days is not intelligent enough; it's like they think we are all stupid . The characters are too over the top; we can't see them as real people anymore. They are also too pretty and perfect so we can't relate to them. Seinfeld for exemple had a diverse cast of really unperfected characters who didn't always do the right thing and that why it was funny.

A recent show that has at sitcom-esque feeling to it that has had success with setting up a brilliant group of characters, and character dynamics, is Shrinking. At the end of the first season I feel it managed the set-up of a first season perfect, with some focus on plot, but not so much that it takes away from developing the characters and the group

I think contemporary comedy writers are massively hamstrung by having so many topics be considered completely verboten as a target for humour, meaning that the shows lack any sort of bite; they all feel very bland and sterile. I watch a modern comedy like Harley Quinn and the jokes tend to be some variation of pop cultural reference, pop culture reference, white man bad, pop cultural reference, slapstick humour. There's clearly talent there, and genuinely funny moments, but once you notice the formula, it's kind of off-putting.

The Office would not have had the same impact without Michael's complete inappropriateness, nor would 30 Rock or Arrested Development have had the same critical acclaim had it not had the carte blanche to poke fun at every facet of society on all sides of the political, racial, ethnic, gender, etc. spectrum. It's not the only ingredient for good comedy of course but shows tend to feel like preachy morality tales otherwise.

You’ll see it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself

They aren't given the chance to grow - a lot of shows take time to find their groove. Reboot was great, it was so close to finding its sweet spot - I bet if it had gotten a second season, it would ahve been great.

I'd say that the sitcom format is too constricting to keep up with modern viewers' tastes and expectations.

In the 90s, it was easy for a network to pump out a sitcom that followed the procedural format because that it was viewers expected and were comfortable with. But now writers have a different bar to meet. There basically needs to be a serialized element to the plot, which makes it harder to fit things in a comfortable 24minute run time.

Only Murders in the Building is a great modern show that probably qualifies as a sitcom. But its main hook is its long mystery arc. Many of the jokes rely on callbacks to what happened 4 episodes earlier.

Poker Face is largely procedural, but it relies on longer run times and isn't focused on comedy, so it doesn't really qualify as a sitcom.

Sitcoms struggle because they just aren't easy to pull off in the modern streaming environment where audiences expect to consume content by binging whole seasons as a time.

It’s far too easy to get something on the air, not enough talent to support all the product.

The biggest factor is probably streamers which lean more dramedy than a joke every few seconds and overall seem to be better at making 7/10 or 8/10 level shows than true classic. Furthermore they take away comedy talent from the networks, and also means a comedian like Bill Hader, Nathan Fielder or Eric Andre can be doing their own experimental things instead of grinding it on a sitcom. Or another example Seth Rogen hits stopped coming in the movies but instead of converting to TV he was able to build a producer resume.

The political climate affects it a bit but probably less for the already sterilized TV than movies or stand up. I don't think Barney Stinson could happen today and new animations having some of South Park and Family Guy more offensive jokes couldn't happen, the main reason they get away with it now is they were grandfathered in from a previous time. Another factor is we cancelled some comedians taking some talent off the board including ones that were likely going to be very active making shows like Louis and Aziz.

I still like a lot of comedies currently on like Shrinking, Ted Lasso, Ghosts, Night Court, Velma, Harley Quinn, Hacks however the last ones I considered true classics were in late 2010s with Mindy Project, The Good Place and Broad City. I don't have many true top tier dramas that started in 2020s either so I guess it's not that much worse.

Writer rooms are now a combination of nepotism hires and forced diversity hires. Everyone is afraid of offending any demographic now too so every joke has to be as milquetoast and inoffensive as possible as well. Doesn’t make for great comedy. Same issue is happening with movies.

Our attention spans have shortened so you can't setup jokes over a page or two. You have to do them rapid fire or you risk losing the audience. That's really hard to do well. I think some of Chuck Lorre's shows have been amazing that way.

A lot of people watch TV while on their phones or laptops, and it's difficult to write for that. You have to over-explain stuff or repeat it because part of the audience wasn't paying attention.

We're a lot more sensitive than we used to be. Somebody has to be the foil in a joke. A lot of people don't want to see people the the victim. (When I fall down a manhole, it's a tragedy. When you do it, it's comedy.)

I think some shows confuse funny with randomness. If you have a proper setup, something random can be funny. Just random, not so much.

We also have less in common with each other than we used to. Ages, economics, beliefs, education, likes/dislikes, etc. One group may find a comedy hilarious while other groups are left scratching their heads. Comedies that attract a broad audience are getting harder to do.

Comedy's also harder than it looks. My two cents.

I think sitcoms have to be willing to take risks and they all seem so bland and safe today. When you think of the classic sitcoms - I Love Lucy, All In The Family, Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, even the earliest years of SNL - they were willing to take on subjects nobody else was doing at the time, to go for broke.

It’s mostly because characters like Barney Stinson, Michael Scott, Ron Swanson can’t exist in the current day sociopolitical climate.

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Most jokes are off limits in today's world.

It is never just one issue when comparing time periods:

• first HIMYM is a very good show from 2005, I did a quick Google and 2 other show from that year were the ‘War at Home ‘and ‘everyone Hates Chris’. How would HIMYF compare in quality to them? War at Home had good performances if I remember but was very unoriginal, it got 2-3 seasons. No one would remember it if it wasn’t for Remi Maleck being in it.

The point I am trying to make is you remember HIMYM from then as it was very good, but most shows aren’t that good. so it is a bit of an unfair comparison. You would need to compare the best few seasons of a sitcom from now to HIMYM, when it was good it was untouchable.

I suspect tempo is a big problem with a lot of sitcoms. I can't say that categorically. But really, a great sitcom isn't engineered - it's lightning in a bottle. There are too many factors. But timing is really significant in comedy in general.

A lot of the newer sitcoms, they're "working too hard" or something. But that has to be quite individual or possibly generational.

Older shows had some time to find their footing with the audience to make adjustments. You have to consider relative to the budget if the show is too expensive it could be canned far easier and if the show has star power that could keep it afloat for another season. Today you have to jump out the gate with it being strong in quality and numbers. Seinfeld, Breaking Bad didn't start out with big audience viewership. It had time to grow.

Comedy is another issue, we kind of gone too far and rounded off the edges in comedy that it's perfectly too smooth and safe. Comedy can get dark, absurd, and crude all without having to go over in that Mature rating. It's like a gradient and when comedy doesn't have all the shades of color, we run into problems where now a normal person can tell easily something is off because they can foresee the setup and punch line when they shouldn't mostly. Comedy is still here, it's that TV comedy just got social neutered a little too hard trying to be too mindful of others that it weakened jokes.

There’s a lot to discuss for sure here but I will say that I personally enjoy HIMYF more to its predecessor simply because those seem to be much more real and relatable characters as opposed to the original just seem like caricatures of people. While HIMYM people seem more fun and adventurous, I wouldn’t want to hang around any of those people except for Marshall.

I think the dilemma that you are discussing is akin to action movies being grander in the 80s and 90s compared to now. I would say action movies are a little more realistic and explore different genres of action instead of just explosions and blood galore.

All in all, the characters and plot lines may be different but I find them more mature and calming. Plus, and this is a very important detail, HIMYF’s episode count is a little over the halfway mark of season one. This is just my input on the matter and this May all just boil down under different strokes for different folks in the way that 15 years ago people were saying that Cheers and Seinfeld were the peak of comedy to what was modern at the time.

The first season of Abbott Elementary is filmed by the person who did the cinematography of The Office, and was designed as a throwback to that style as the network sitcom itself was not being made much anymore. Look at the shows that do well in reruns of the past few years, Last Man Standing, The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, etc.

And honestly, while television itself won't stick around, live weekly television can still get more viewers on streaming than streaming originals.

I do know someone that writes on Grand Crew so I can't exactly be fair about it though.

I think it's just talent. Back then every writer wanted their own successful sitcom, so you got the very best of the best. These days most of the talent go to streaming

I prefer "The Good Place" and "Ted Lasso" over any sitcom from a decade ago.

i counter with IASIP

What I think is that modern sitcoms has genuinely good writing weaved in with terrible writing to target all demographics. They try to be funny to everyone which comes across as unfunny or just funny sometimes

I think its because sitcoms used to showcase real cultures. The internet kind of ruins that a bit.

I think that the tv audience has become smarter and dumb sitcoms aren’t as pleasing anymore. Also, if sitcoms like King of Queens had to compete in a time like today, they’d really be struggling.

Compared to what is on streaming now (Succession, The Last Of Us, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Perry Mason, A League Of Their Own, to name a few that I watch), sit-coms and regular commercial television in general is just . . . ridiculous and pointless. What is the plot of most sit-coms? Oh there was a misunderstanding? That's OK, it was cleared up before the final commercial break. Somebody is upset? That's OK, we'll talk about it and they'll reveal their true feelings so we all understand before the final commercial break. Someone is being rude/mean/heartless/ignorant? That's OK, they'll get their comeuppance before the final commercial break and go on to be the same next week.

You're right that they don't feel like real people, because you can't get to the root of real people when the main plot has to be resolved in 22 minutes! There's so much other stuff to watch that is deep and real (or crazy-not real in an awesome way) and hilarious and touching and wacky and high-stakes. The quality and depth of streaming shows just blow regular TV out of the water.

canned or pre-recorded laughs kills any fun I have watching something. if taped in front of a live audience it's another ball game.

You know, the best sitcoms, the best music, the best anything, tends to go unnoticed in this day and age, when mediocrity is so often rewarded by the masses and the corporations. So to find the gems you have to do your homework and shift and sort and use your discernment.

So I don't see any issues with modern comedy, you just have to look for it. Talent has never gone away. Of course if you look for it in How I met your whatever, you are going down the wrong path. But that's just my opinion.

Edit: Wow, you are downvoting me and I didn't even say that How I met your mother is just pure crap.

I think we've largely outgrown sitcoms now, and what we do like, all the olders already have it.